HP Holders: Ripped Off

Take a second look at the severance package that Hewlett-Packard has agreed to pay the now-departed CEO Leo Apotheker. In addition to an assortment of perks you'll never get - they'll cover any losses he suffers from having to sell his house in California - he will get a package of cash and stock worth more than $13 million.

Amazing. During his tenure, the value of HP shares dropped 42%, wiping out more than $33 billion in market value. HP shares sold off on the announcement of his arrival, and rallied on the first news of his expected departure. He served less than a year, effectively fired by the company's board for his inept performance. And for all of those good works, he gets a package of parting gifts worth more than $13 million.

This situation should raise a new debate on executive compensation; there is simply no excuse for the lucre the HP board has decided in its infinite wisdom to hand over to its failed former chief. If you happen to be a failed gardener, or fry cook, or journalist, fired in less than a year for incompetence, would you expect to get a big fat bonus? Would you even have the nerve to ask?